The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1887-07-02
IN THE EARTH'S BOWELS.
EXPERIENCE OF FOUR MEN BURIED A
QUARTER OF A MILE DEEP

Alta Mine When II Was F1ooded-Prayers
offered by Women During the Hours Be-
fore the Rescue Was Accomplished
A man with big white hat, fan
mel shirt, and heavy mountain suit OF
clothes on sat in the reading-room OF
McCoy's Hotel last evening. He was
a restless kind of man. He wandered
to the newspaper files, roamed over to
the icc-water tank, over to the cigar
stand, and finally he sat down and
began to smoke. Something in his
appearance attracted the attention OF
another man, who happened in. and
he walked up TO the first individual
and said: Your name is Charley
Goatch, if | mistake not. You were
once in Virginia City. You worked in
the Southend mines, didn't youP" The
man rose and indicated with nod of
the head that his questioner was right
Mr.. Goatch is man of fifty or more.
He had worked in the Bonanza mines
for years, and was known as a faithful
servant at "a day for eight hour $
work-three eight-hour shifts. The
man who had interrupted his revcrie
was recognized as having been con-
nected with the Virginia City papers,
and the two sat down for chat MIR.
Goatch said: you know when the
Bonanza began to peter well, then
| went down TO work for Superinten-
dent Boyle at the Alta, That's away
down, you know. below Gold Hill. l
saw the Tribunes story about that old
Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. OF
course it's wonder, never was in it,
although I've lived half my life in caves;
but if the man who wrote that story
would come to me / could tell story
that would make his hair grayer than
mine. You remember the story of the
Alta MineP You were there. "
Great Scott! were you one of those
four menp" was asked.
II was. Didn't you ever know 1t |?
Look at my hail"
The miner was, indeed, perma-
nenuy gray.
You couldn't get me into the Nam
moth OF any other cave now," he said
81 wouldn't go into mine for 81, 0O0,-
900 unless | could see bucket and q
rope"
And then the miner told his story.
In 1873 he was working in the Alta
Mine, at Virginia City. New. The
mine was an assessment proposition
that is it was worked by contributions
of stockholders, enforced. of course,
BY law. Not dollar of bullion had
ever come ont, yet assessments had
sent the shaft down 1, $50 feet and put
up plant in machinery worth $780,
900. Drifts were run one hundred
feet to lap the edge, and at each OF
those stations was commodious
chamber.
The Alta Mine was always full of
water" said the miner. "She was the
wettest thing I'd ever worked in. The
big pump. that cost $3.50, 600, had more
than she could do without driving to
keep the water down. 1t was in May,
1878. that blast down on the 1,75O
unloosed watcr-pocket that drove
everybody to the cages. They rushed
up the shaft and were all right. But
nobody seemed to remember little
shift of four men at work in south
cross-cut from the |, 650-level. We
was drivin' in TO catch the foot-wall OF
the ledge, and to do that we ran a
halfway upraise. I'll just draw you
a little sketch here to show you what
I'm coming at.
"You see the shaft is perpendicular
J,750 feet down. At the 1,650 station
our cross-cut goes off on an upraise.
You see the little chamber where we
were at work. Now, when the blast
blew at the /, $50 unloossd the water
and the flood came it rose so fast in
the main shaft that the men who knew
all about it had hard work to get away.
In the excitement we were forgotten
The water rose in the shaft to 1850 in
no time and came into our cross-cut.
The men on top sent down cages for
us, but before they could get there the
water washed ahead of them.
Just then the big pump. under al
the extra stain on it, broke down. and
every body said tie four men left in the
mine would be drowned. / was one
A. f.... Dill Ranfhan waa shift